taeyong knew what kun wanted to talk about. it was making him even more guilty sitting there and pretending he had no idea about what was going on. he tried to convince himself that he was doing it for their sake...so they could finally have their chance to shine and that he never did it for a selfish reason. he considered telling them that he talked to the ceo himself. that he already knew about their debut plans and about sm sending them off to china so they can debut there but nothing seems to come out of taeyong's mouth. he couldn't find the courage somehow. he was supposed to be a strong leader. he was supposed to be the blunt one, unafraid of telling his fellow members anything because the whole foundation of their bond consisted of trust, respect and understanding. in this case, he had betrayed them.
the nct leader knew nothing could be kept forever. he knew that they would eventually know. he wasn't sure if they were going to be mad at him and leave or if they would understand and forgive him.
taeyong kept his head down as kun continued on. he couldn't look the man in the eyes. in fact, he couldn't look at anyone in the eyes. he felt arms wrap around him. he knew that familiar scent. he could tell who it was without even looking up. his heart quenched in guilt even more. at any moment, taeyong felt like he could explode. his hands started to feel all clammy and his heart was beating so fast.
'i don't deserve you. i don't deserve all of you. i wanted to believe i did this for you...i wanted to believe that i did all of this to help you. but who am i fooling? i am a man in love. a selfish man in love.'
taeyong uttered those words in his head. words that he could never admit out loud. he knew that what he did will slowly eat at him. there was a part of him that wanted to go back in time and take back what he had said.
‿︵‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - - - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵
after everyone had comforted each other, they realized that they didn't want to spend the rest of their time with the 4 members in sadness. it was a great opportunity for them. it wasn't like they weren't going to see each other again. they were going to come back. they just have to be away for awhile to debut and promote in china.
the whole dorm was back in its chaotic mess once again. there were the dreamies running around the dorm chasing donghyuck with the rest of the nct members conversing with each other about random things.
ten looked down at his phone as he heard it chime. bambam had texted him asking if he wanted to come and hang out. he smiled, softly. the thai male responded before getting up from the couch.
"okay, as much as i want to spend more time with you weirdos, i've gotten tired of seeing ya'll faces everyday. i need to see my other friends. sayonara, suckers! if anyone needs me...please don't." ten gave them a peace sign before quickly heading out but not after making sure he had his wallet and keys with him.
the other members only shook their head before returning to whatever they were doing.
‿︵‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - - - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵‿︵
the night went by and ten found himself singing off-key. the others were giggling and taking videos of ten. they had a little bit too much to drink as it was jackson's idea to order alcohol since all of them were of age.
more people had come to hang out. dokyeom, mingyu and minghao of seventeen arrived a little after ten did. the great cha eunwoo showed up as well as much to the girls' delight. lisa's heart almost exploded at how good looking eunwoo was in person. the last person to arrive was jeon jungkook of bts.
lisa stuck by with sorn, minnie and ten the most as she wasn't as close with bambam's other friends. out of all the 97 liners in exception of bambam, she only knew yugyeom and jaehyun personally. she still tries to converse with the others given her naturally friendly and welcoming personality.
throughout the night, she got to know a little more about bambam's other friends. mingyu and minghao were more of the reserved ones in the group while dokyeom and bambam are naturally chaotic. jungkook was in between as he occasionally joins in on the thai male's crazy antics. eunwoo was also part of the quiet ones but he was a great conversationalist despite not having the same level of energy as bambam and dokyeom.
after ten finished his 'mini concert', he handed the mic to lisa, to which the latter waved her hands in protest. she was a shy person. from the rest of the people in the room, she was the only one who refused to drink as yg didn't allow his artists to drink.
"come on, lisa. please do it for us." ten gave her a puppy dog look as he kept shoving the mic to her face.
lisa scrunched her face in disgust at her fellow thai.
"i will if you stop that, ten. the puppy dog face is not a good look on you. please do not do it again." she retorted before sighing and taking the mic from him to which the male broke into a wide smile and sat back down beside her in excitement and satisfaction that he got what he wanted in the end.
'duh. i'm chittaphon leechaiyapornkul. i get what i want when i want it. speaking of...'
the thai male thought to himself with a smirk. he looked down at his phone, his eyes glinted with mischief.
before lisa knew it, ten had already picked out a song for her which made the blonde raise her eyebrow at the male at his choice of song.
"come on. you love this song. i've heard you sing it." the thai male grinned and nudged her with his elbow.
the blonde could only sigh and give up. she knew she was gonna be pestered all night if she didn't give in to what ten wanted.
'this spoiled little demon. your dad should've used a condom.'
lisa glared at the short thai male before sighing and gestured for him to press play.
as a familiar beat started, the others started cheering. the 97 liners (+ jackson) turned the flashlight on their phones and began waving it slowly like they were at a concert which made lisa roll her eyes at their childishness but appreciated the gesture anyway. sorn and minnie joined along as well.
lisa turned to the screen and began to rap. she was grateful at how many times she had played and sang-along to the song that she had managed to master the rap parts without stumbling.
"baby, is it me or are you doing something to me?
웃을 때는 shining
But 네 속은 왠지 lying
위험하게 넌 beautiful
서서히 온 넌 my dilemma
습관처럼
이미 나는 없는 네 손 찾아."
in the middle of her rapping, the others cheered and screamed making her giggle slightly but continued anyway. as she was invested on the song and to the screen, she didn't realize the door opening and two more people coming in.
ten crossed his arms across his chest, his smirk widening as he looked at the two people who entered.
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a little while after ten left, jaehyun received a message from the 97 liner group chat. bambam had spammed the chat asking him to come along to the karaoke bar as most of the group were there. he even mentioned that ten was hanging out along with them as he had invited some of his other friends as well.
after being annoyed at the constant vibration of his phone, courtesy of both bambam and dokyeom, he finally caved with bambam stressing out that he needed to bring taeyong as well.
jaehyun didn't need to ask the male why as he figured out what he was trying to do and he was pretty sure that ten was in on it as well. he chuckled at his friends' very sneaky and devious plan before calling out taeyong's name.
(a/n: oKay i know the past few chapters doesn't have any lucas and lisa interaction but i didn't want this story to just be revolved around the two of them but also with their own friends and group as well cause they impact the story heavily especially with the people who are aware of lucas' and taeyong's feelings towards her. this story will be incredibly slow placed. i hope yall don't mind 🥺)